It was accepted by Gallimard in 1937 and given the title we know today. Originally titled “Melancholia,” Nausea was rejected by the N. His experiences both in the military and as a teacher seem to have informed the novel. While Sartre seems to have begun writing the novel during his military service, he finished it while working as a schoolteacher. Written in the early 1930s, Nausea is set in the fictional town of “Bouville,” likely a recreation of Le Havre, where Sartre was writing and working at the time of the novel’s composition. Much of what would be developed in Being and Nothingness is prefigured in Nausea, and the novel remains important as another way to understand Sartre’s philosophical enterprise. It was published five years before his magnum opus, Being and Nothingness, a long treatise outlining of Sartre’s existentialist philosophy. Sartre’s first novel, Nausea is viewed by some as his best. The latter half of the novel sees Antoine discover the absurdity of existence, meet his former lover in a tense interaction, and decide to move to Paris to write a novel.

Slowly, his philosophical diaries expand on his condition, while also exploring concepts like travel, language, memory, and love.

Jean-Paul Sartre’s 1938 novel Nausea follows Antoine Roquentin, a historian suffering under a strange affliction he calls “The Nausea.” As the novel unfolds, Antoine’s Nausea worsens.

Nausea novel